IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v13y2015i1p89-d61435.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Occupational Heat Stress Profiles in Selected Workplaces in India

Author

Listed:
  • Vidhya Venugopal

    (Department of Environmental Health Engineering, No.1, Ramachandra Nagar Porur, Chennai, Tamilnadu 600116, India)

  • Jeremiah S. Chinnadurai

    (Department of Environmental Health Engineering, No.1, Ramachandra Nagar Porur, Chennai, Tamilnadu 600116, India)

  • Rebekah A. I. Lucas

    (Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeåa University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
    School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Birmingham Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK)

  • Tord Kjellstrom

    (Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeåa University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
    Health and Environment International Trust, 168 Stafford Drive, Mapua 7005, Nelson, New Zealand)

Abstract

Health and productivity impacts from occupational heat stress have significant ramifications for the large workforce of India. This study profiled occupational heat stress impacts on the health and productivity of workers in select organized and unorganized Indian work sectors. During hotter and cooler seasons, Wet Bulb Globe Temperatures (WBGT) were used to quantify the risk of heat stress, according to International workplace guidelines. Questionnaires assessed workers’ perceived health and productivity impacts from heat stress. A total of 442 workers from 18 Indian workplaces participated (22% and 78% from the organized and unorganized sector, respectively). Overall 82% and 42% of workers were exposed to higher than recommended WBGT during hotter and cooler periods, respectively. Workers with heavy workloads reported more heat-related health issues (chi square = 23.67, p ≤ 0.001) and reduced productivity (chi square = 15.82, p ≤ 0.001), especially the outdoor workers. Heat-rashes, dehydration, heat-syncope and urinogenital symptoms were self-reported health issues. Cited reasons for productivity losses were: extended-work hours due to fatigue/exhaustion, sickness/hospitalization and wages lost. Reducing workplace heat stress will benefit industries and workers via improving worker health and productivity. Adaptation and mitigation measures to tackle heat stress are imperative to protect the present and future workforce as climate change progresses.

Suggested Citation

  • Vidhya Venugopal & Jeremiah S. Chinnadurai & Rebekah A. I. Lucas & Tord Kjellstrom, 2015. "Occupational Heat Stress Profiles in Selected Workplaces in India," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2015:i:1:p:89-:d:61435
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/1/89/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/1/89/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. E. Somanathan & Rohini Somanathan & Anant Sudarshan & Meenu Tewari, 2021. "The Impact of Temperature on Productivity and Labor Supply: Evidence from Indian Manufacturing," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(6), pages 1797-1827.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Carolin Kroeger, 2023. "Heat is associated with short-term increases in household food insecurity in 150 countries and this is mediated by income," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 7(10), pages 1777-1786, October.
    2. Shreya S. Shrikhande & Sonja Merten & Olga Cambaco & Tristan Lee & Ravivarman Lakshmanasamy & Martin Röösli & Mohammad Aqiel Dalvie & Jürg Utzinger & Guéladio Cissé, 2023. "“Climate Change and Health?”: Knowledge and Perceptions among Key Stakeholders in Puducherry, India," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-18, March.
    3. Nanda Kaji Budhathoki & Kerstin K. Zander, 2019. "Socio-Economic Impact of and Adaptation to Extreme Heat and Cold of Farmers in the Food Bowl of Nepal," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-24, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Carolin Kroeger, 2023. "Heat is associated with short-term increases in household food insecurity in 150 countries and this is mediated by income," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 7(10), pages 1777-1786, October.
    2. Francesco Lamperti & Giovanni Dosi & Mauro Napoletano & Andrea Roventini & Alessandro Sapio, 2018. "And then he wasn't a she : Climate change and green transitions in an agent-based integrated assessment model," Working Papers hal-03443464, HAL.
    3. Théo Benonnier & Katrin Millock & Vis Taraz, 2022. "Long-term migration trends and rising temperatures: the role of irrigation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(3), pages 307-330, July.
    4. Tobias Kranz & Hamza Bennani & Matthias Neuenkirch, 2024. "Monetary Policy and Climate Change: Challenges and the Role of Major Central Banks," Research Papers in Economics 2024-01, University of Trier, Department of Economics.
    5. Sterner, Thomas & Ewald, Jens & Sterner, Erik, 2024. "Economists and the climate," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    6. Yuan, Zhengrong & Ding, Hai & Yu, Qiuzuo, 2024. "High temperature, bargaining power and within-firm wage inequality: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    7. Eshita Gupta & Bharat Ramaswami & E. Somanathan, 2021. "The Distributional Impact of Climate Change: Why Food Prices Matter," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 249-275, July.
    8. Cascarano, Michele & Natoli, Filippo & Petrella, Andrea, 2022. "Entry, exit and market structure in a changing climate," MPRA Paper 112868, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Chen, Zhenzhu & Li, Li & Tang, Yao, 2024. "Weather, credit, and economic fluctuations: Evidence from China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 406-422.
    10. Chi, Yeguang & He, Jingbin & Ma, Xinru & Wu, Fei, 2023. "Air pollution and institutional investors' valuation bias during initial public offerings," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    11. Jacopo Ponticelli & Qiping Xu & Stefan Zeume, 2023. "Temperature and Local Industry Concentration," Working Papers 23-51, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    12. Aguilar-Gomez, Sandra & Gutierrez, Emilio & Heres, David & Jaume, David & Tobal, Martin, 2024. "Thermal stress and financial distress: Extreme temperatures and firms’ loan defaults in Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    13. Guo, Dongmei & Li, Qin & Liu, Peng & Shi, Xunpeng & Yu, Jian, 2023. "Power shortage and firm performance: Evidence from a Chinese city power shortage index," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    14. Behrer,Arnold Patrick & Bolotnyy,Valentin, 2022. "Heat, Crime, and Punishment," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9909, The World Bank.
    15. Andrew Ireland & David Johnston & Rachel Knott, 2024. "Impacts of Extreme Heat on Labor Force Dynamics," Papers 2024-01, Centre for Health Economics, Monash University.
    16. Park, Jisung & Bangalore, Mook & Hallegatte, Stephane & Sandhoefner, Evan, 2018. "Households and heat stress: estimating the distributional consequences of climate change," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(3), pages 349-368, June.
    17. Cosaert, Sam & Nieto Castro, Adrian & Tatsiramos, Konstantinos, 2023. "Temperature and the Timing of Work," IZA Discussion Papers 16480, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Brookes Gray, Harriet & Taraz, Vis & Halliday, Simon D., 2023. "The impact of weather shocks on employment outcomes: evidence from South Africa," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(3), pages 285-305, June.
    19. Peillex, Jonathan & El Ouadghiri, Imane & Gomes, Mathieu & Jaballah, Jamil, 2021. "Extreme heat and stock market activity," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    20. Preety Srivastava & Trong-Anh Trinh & Xiaohui Zhang, 2022. "Weather effects on academic performance: An analysis using administrative data," Discussion Papers 2207, University of Exeter, Department of Economics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2015:i:1:p:89-:d:61435. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.